Coin collector housing



Mai'ch 30, 1937. o. N. GIERTSEN 7 2,075,519

CQIN COLLECTOR HOUSING Filed Aug. 8, 1935 III/IIIIlI/l/I/IllrI/IlI/III/II/l/I,

Um w lrza FIG. 5

//v l/EN TOR 0. N. G/ERTSEN ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 30, 1937 UNITED STATES COIN COLLECTOR, HOUSING Oyvind N. Giertsen, Bloomfield, N. J., assignorto- Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 8,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to coin collector housings and has for an object to strengthen such housings against attempts at burglary.

Telephone pay stations at which coins are deposited by the user in payment for completed calls are provided with receptacles for receiving the deposited coins. In some cases stations of this type are located in public places where there is no attendant. The door of the coin box is exposed and unscrupulous persons sometimes break into the boxes by cutting away that part of the lower housing which supports the cash compartment door.

In the usual type of telephone coin collector as disclosed in the O. F. Forsberg U. S. Patent 1,043,219 issued November 5, 1912, the cash compartment occupies most of the lower housing of the collector except for the coin return opening on one side thereof. It has been customary as shown in the F. A. Hoyt et al. U. S. Patent 1,667,804, issued May 1, 1928, not to use hinges for the cash compartment door but to use an L-shaped lug riveted to or integral with the back of the door, and extending below the bottom edge of the door and engaging the bottom edge of the coin compartment for holding the door in position. The top of the door is usually held in position by the bolt of a lock which engages the upper edge of the coin box compartment. Such a door may be made of hard and tough steel but the other walls of the cash compartment of the lower housing are usually of pressed steel formed or punched to the desired configuration and hence are of a mild steel which is not so capable of resisting attack as the door itself. Attempts are occasionally made to gain access to the cash compartment by using a hack saw or other instrument for cutting away that part of the lower housing which supports the door.

In accordance with this invention it is proposed to strengthen those edges of the cash compartment opening which are subject to attack, by providing adjacent said edges in the interior of the compartment a steel strip of such hardness and toughness as to resist attack by a hack saw or similar instrument. In the usual collector the edges of the cash compartment opening are rounded and formed with a lip which serves as a depressed seat for the door. Specifically a hardened steel rod may be suitably fastened inside this lip to provide the desired protection, the rod extending along one or more sides of the cash compartment opening. If desired, the hardened steel rod may comprise a plurality of hardened steel rollers which will roll with the stroke of a 1935, Serial No. 35,224

. saw reaching them, thus preventing the saw from making any further impression on the lip of the housing opening.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a telephone coin collector;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view of the lower housing showing the cash compartment opening reinforced in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of Fig. 2 taken along the line 3-3;

Fig. 4 discloses an alternative form of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is asectional view of Fig. 4 taken along the line 55.

Fig. 1 discloses a front View of a typical coin collector with which this invention is particularly adapted to be used. This collector of Fig. 1 may be substantially of the type disclosed in the O. F. Forsberg U. S. Patent 1,043,219, issued November 5, 1912, to which reference may be made for the details of construction and operation. The lower housing I0 of the usual collector has in its front wall a refund opening II and. a door l2 for closing the cash compartment opening. This lower housing is preferably made of formed sheet metal of mild steel which although economical in manufacture is susceptible to attack. Hence, attempts are occasionally made to saw away portions of the lower housing surrounding door l2 to a sufficient extent to enable the door to be removed. Such attacks are liable to occur particularly along the edges I3, M which are more exposed than the remaining edges of the door frame.

In the usual coin collector the edges of the cash compartment opening [5 are rounded as shown in Fig. 3 and formed with a lip I6 which serves as a depressed seat for the door l2 and it is this rounded edge I! particularly along sides l3 and I4 that is subject to attack.

In accordance with one form of this invention it is proposed to protect the side edges l3 and M from being sawn through by providing a hardened steel rod extending along both side edges I3 and I4 and the remaining edges if desired. Fig. 2 shows an L-shaped rod l8 extending along both sides l3 and I4 and also protecting the corner formed by the meeting edges of sides l3 and I4. Rod l 8 should be made of very hard steel capable of resisting the usual hack saw, bolt cutter or other instrument. Hence if one succeeds in cutting into the mild steel of an edge of the lower housing no further progress with the saw can be made after the saw teeth reach the rod l8 and hence it will be impossible to saw into the housing far enough to free the door [2 from its fastenings. Rod [8 may be fitted snugly within the curved lip IT as shown in Fig. 3 and held in place in any suitable manner as by fiat metal strips 5 l9 welded to the inner face of the lower housing. If desired, the hardened steel rod l8 may be replaced by a plurality of rods of short length placed end to end and only loosely fastened in place so that they will roll or rotate under the 10 action of a saw, thereby further increasing the difficulty of removing enough of the lower housing to free the cash compartment door. Fig. 4 shows a plurality of hardened steel rollers 20 placed along both side edges l3 and M with a hardened steel ball 2| at the corner where edges [3 and M meet. Any substantial lengthwise movement of these rollers may be prevented by small metal blocks 25, 26 suitably fastened to the inner face of the lower housing. As shown in Fig. 5 these rollers 20 are held loosely in place within the curved edge I? by an L-shaped strip 22, the upturned portion 23 of which contacts with lip l6 and holds the rollers 20 in place while permitting their rotation. Strips 22 if desired 25 may be welded tothe inner face of the lower housing.

What is claimed is: 1. A coin collector housing having an opening adjacent an edge of said housing, said edge being rounded and formed with a depressed lip to provide a seat for a closure for said opening, means for strengthening said edge comprising a strip of hardened steel mounted inside said rounded lip, and means for holding said strip in position inside said lip.

2. A coin collector housing having an opening adjacent an edge of said housing, the edges of said opening being rounded and formed with a depressed lip to provide a seat for a closure for said opening, a hardened steel rod mounted inside said lip adjacent an edge. of said housing for preventing said edge from being cut into by a hack saw or other instrument to an extent suificient to permit the forcible removal of said closure, and means welded to the inside of said housing for holding said rod in position.

3. A coin collector housing having an opening adjacent an edge of said housing, the edges of said opening being rounded and formed with a depressed lip to provide a seat for a closure for said opening, a hardened steel rod mounted for rotative movement inside said lip adjacent an edge of said housing, and means for holding said rod for rotative movement inside said lip.

OYVIND N. GIERTSEN. 

